A glimpse of the past - Monroe Times

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A glimpse of the past

Local fossil collector Jim Kostohrys poses next to the pieces of an almost 15-foot-long cephalopod fossil that he found and extracted from rocks in the Mineral Point area. (Times photo: Susan Endres)

Local fossil collector Jim Kostohrys poses next to the pieces of an almost 15-foot-long cephalopod fossil that he found and extracted from rocks in the Mineral Point area. (Times photo: Susan Endres)

DARLINGTON - Almost 500 million years ago, a warm, shallow saltwater sea covered what is now Wisconsin. Large, shelled creatures dominated those seas, using jet propulsion to move around. These creatures, called nautiloids - a type of cephalopod - are related to the modern squid and octopus.